InfoSAWIT YOGYAKARTA – Until now, many foreign media always describe palm oil as the factor of issues, for instance, deforestation.
Regional Director for South East Asia Island Countries CIRAD, Jean-Marc RODA said everything would be the understanding challenges for the people in European Union.
“Particularly in young generations. They are always educated about over understanding about environmental issues, there are significant gaps between perception and reality,” he said when being the speaker in ASEAN Palm Oil Student Association (APOSA) 2024 that InfoSAWIT watched, Wednesday (6/3/2024).
But the facts showed when they (students) from some universities in Europe got internship program with agriculture institutions in Asia, they start realizing the different complexity and atmosphere when getting involved in person in sustainable palm oil plantation. This opens the reality from media narration which sometimes bothering.
Jean-Marc also told, student exchange between Asian and European universities would be significant to bridge the gaps of information. By having field experience in person, the student would face the reality about sustainable plantation practices and the ways in sustainability. Direct information would disclose prejudice but pile up better holistic understanding about the challenges.
Whatever it is, the gap would remain exist not only in young generations in different countries, but also in the people of European Union themselves. For instance, the youths who live in urban, lost contact with agriculture condition. They just trust what media always informed.
Jean-Marc thought, this phenomenon is not exclusive for the western only but also it reflects in Asian community. The contrast between the people who live in urban areas and they that get involved in agricultural business, emphasized that it is critical to deliver education and information to establish perception.
But there are still hopes in the challenges. Disparity acknowledgement in Asia also offered chance to get introspection and dialogue. By acknowledging media narration influence and actively looking for much wider perspectives, there would be ways heading to bigger collaboration and understanding.
Basically, he continued, the journey to make the perception same – between media (narration) and plantation reality in the field, still goes on. This needs the same efforts to challenge the assumption, get more dialogues, and embrace the complexity that attaches in sustainability efforts.
“Only by the same efforts, we should hope to establish (young) generations completed by the understanding needed to solve urgent challenges in our era,” Jean-Marc said. (T2)
